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Car 60 is a single-ended, double-truck, arch roof steel interurban
car, and is a significant as being the sole survivor of the Rochester
Subway (RSB) fleet. It began its career as part of a fleet of 12 cars
for New York State Railways operations in the Utica area. The fleet
was numbered 46-68, even numbers only (powered cars were even, un-powered
trailers were odd). Car 60's first assignment was on the Rome-Little
Falls interurban, after 1933, it ran on the Utica-Clinton line. The
last Utica line was abandoned in 1936, and the 12 cars were stored.
In late 1937, the fleet was moved to Rochester and reconditioned for
use on the Subway to replace the aging 2000-series cars. They entered
regular service on August 2, when New York State Railways' Rochester
Lines were transferred to the new Rochester Transit Corp.
Car 60 faithfully served the Rochester community until the end of
all passenger service on June 30, 1956.
Through the hard work of then-Rochester
Chapter NRHS President, Sam Grover, RSB
60 was donated to the Chapter by Rochester Transit Corp. soon after.
Having no museum or storage facility of its own, the car was loaned
to the Rail City museum in Sandy Creek. In 1968 the car was loaned
for possible inclusion in the new State museum at Albany. Those plans
never materialized, and the car languished in an outdoor shed at a
Thruway maintenance facility in Albany. After much negotiation, the
car was returned to Rochester and to the Chapter’s Rochester & Genesee
Valley Railroad Museum in 1998 with Sam Grover
present to accept delivery.
Car 60 is currently undergoing an extensive multi-year rebuilding
program in the restoration shops of the
Rochester & Genesee Valley
Railroad Museum. As the sole remaining
example of a Rochester Subway car, it
is our goal to restore the trolley car
to operating condition.
- Built: Cincinnati Car Co., 1916
- Length: 49’-8”
- Weight: 54,000 lbs.
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